Published on 12, July, 2020
Can anyone help me with how to approach talking to my daughter (11yrs) about truth and dare games? I’ve seen a video she made and sent in a group chat of herself eating soap as school “friends” had dared her to and said they’d done it, none had video proof however.
I think a good idea might be explaining to her that just because other people say that they have done something it doesn’t mean that have ‘really’ done whatever it was. This is a massive thing for anyone with ASD, taking everything that others say literally, not realising that they are bluffing. I know myself, back when I was at school, whenever other children used to say that they’d done something, I’d just blindly believe them, it’s taken getting to my late 30’s to realise that most of what they said was made up. It’s important to make sure that your daughter isn’t using false information to influence her decisions about whether or not to do things, such as eating soap.
We used to dare each other to do dumb things like this as kids, however it was never expected for anyone to actually do it, the "friends" may have been trying to just be silly, however not realising your daughter would go through with it.
The more worrying thing is that these people could intentionally be trying to get her to do this as a victim.
Are these "friends" usually supportive or are they relatively new to her? I only ask as I'm concerned it might be intended bullying rather than misguided idiocy.
I seriously recommend talking to your daughters school about this as I could be dangerous, in the mean time I think simple suggestions of if something seems off run it past an adult. Or that truth or dare is a silly game designed to upset people so best not to play. I obviously don't know your daughter or how she is socially, but maybe pointing out that a true friend would not ask her to do something like that.
But definitely alert the school.